Intermittent treater



Dec. 29, 1931. H. c. EDDY INTERM'ITTENT THEATER Original Filed Nov. 14. 1927 Patented Dec. 29, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE HAROLD C. EDDY, 011. LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR TO PETROLEUM RECTIFY- ING COMPANY OF CALIFORNIA, F LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, A CORPORATION OF CALIFORNIA INTERMITTENT TREATER Application filed November 14, 1927, Serial No. 233,023. Renewed November 4, 1930.

This invention relates to electrical treaters which are used for treating mixtures when it is desired to separate the constituents thereof. My invention has a marked utility 5, in the separation of water from an oil-water emulsion, and will be described in this connection without any intension to limit the invention to this one use.

In the petroleum industry, oil and water often become mixed, forming an emulsion which must be broken down. It is common practice to break down the emulsion by use of an electrical treater having a pair of electrodes bet-ween which an electric field is es tablished. The emulsion to be treated is passed through the electric field wherein the water particles are coalesced into masses of sufiicient size to separate from the oil by the influence of gravity.

It is an object of this invention to provide a simple and improved electrical tr-eater.

Another object of the invention is to provide a treater in which the fluid is intermit-.

tently treated.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a treater in which there will be no short-circuiting between the electrodes.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a treater in which the fluid is first introduced into a high intensity electrical field and then into a weaker electrical field.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent in the following description in which reference is had to the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is an elevational section of of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a cross section taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an elevational sectionthrough another form of the invention.

Fig. 4 is a cross .section taken on the line 1-4 of Fig. 3.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, the invention provides a tank 11. Extending into the tank 11 from the upper part thereof is an insulation member 12 through which a shaft 13 is extended. The upper end of the shaft 13 is provided with a pulley 14 over which a belt one form 15 may extend for rotating the shaft 13. Attached to the inner end of the shaft 13 inside the tank 11 is a movable electrode 16." As illustrated best in F ig. 2, the movable electrode 16 is provided with a number of con ducting portions in the form of arms 17 which are separated by spaces 18.

Extending into the tank 11 is a plurality of nozzles 20, these nozzles 20 being preferably positioned so that they will direct a stream of fluid substantially at right angles to the motion of the electrode 16. The nozzles 20 are connected to a fluid-supply pipe 21 which, in the present invention, is adapted to supply emulsion thereto. In the drawings I have shown four nozzles in Figs. 1 and 2 and six arms 17, it being preferable to pro- 28 whichengages a rotatable contact 29, this rotatable contact 29 being secured to the shaft 13. It will be seen that the tank and nozzles are connected to one side of the electric circuit, and the electrode 16 is connected to the other side, so that when the transformer .24

is energized an electric field will be set up between the tank and the electrode, and the nozzles and the electrode. It should be noted that the nozzles 20 extend closer than the tank to the electrode 16 so that the intensity of the electric field between the nozzles and the electrode will be greater than the intensity between the tank and the electrode. Dry oil is withdrawn from the tank 11 by a pipe 32 and water, or other precipitates, is withdrawn through a pipe 33.

The operation of the invention is substantially as follows:

The emulsion supplied through the nozzles 20 is directed against the arms '17 of the electrode 16 when the arms pass below the nozzles. WVhen an arm is below a particular nozzle, the field intensity isvery high and the emulsion is at this time subjected to a maximum treatment. As the arm moves past the lower end of a particular nozzle, the field is gradually decreased with respect to that particular arm, but increases with respect to the following arm which moves into position below the nozzle and at which time a field of maximum intensity is created. The treating action of the invention is somewhat intermittent,most of the treatment occurring when an arm is directly below or is adjacent to a nozzle 20. From experiment I have found that this intermittent treating action veryrapidly coalesces the water particles. The stream of emulsion is directly in the path of the maximum field and will be subjected to maximum treatment. There will be no short-circuiting due to the fact that the electrode 16 is always moving, and due to the fact that the incoming emulsion is in the form of a stream. The emulsion is further treated by the electric field which is created between the wall of the tankll and the electrode 16. This field is somewhat weaker and there will be no short-circuiting tendencies therein but the weak field is sufficient to assist in agglomeration of the water particles.

Figs. 3 and 4 illustrate a second form of the invention. In this form of the invention the electrode 16 is provided with vertical electrode plates 40 in place of the radial arms 17. These electrode plates 40 may be arcuated as illustrated in Fig. 4, being supported by radial spokes 41 extending from a hub 42 supported at the inner end of the shaft 13. Adjacent electrode plates 40 are separated by spaces 18 the same as the arms 17 shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The nozzles 20 in this form of the invention are directed radially inward from the cylindrical wall 44 of the shell 11 so that the stream is projected at right angles to the movement of the electrode 16.

The operation of this form of the invention is the same as in the first form. The emulsion is subjected to a high intensity field when an electrode plate is adjacent to a nozzle 20. The emulsion upon treatment tends to move downward but it does not cease being treated, remaining in the field between the cylindrical wall 44 of the shell 11 and the electrode plates 40. This weaker field, as in the first form of the invention, assists in agglomerating the water particles.

I claim as my invention:

1. An electrical treater comprising; a tank; a movable electrode in said tank; a nozzle for directing fluid onto said electrode as it moves therepast, said electrode approaching closer to said nozzle than to said tank; and means for setting up an electric field between said electrode and said tank and nozzle.

2. An electrical treater comprising: a tank; a movable electrode in said tank, said movable electrode having arms separated by spaces; a nozzle for directing fluid onto said electrode as it moves therepast, said electrode approaching closer to said nozzle than to said tank; and means for setting up an electric field between said electrode and said tank and nozzle.

3. An electrical treater comprising: a rotatable electrode providing arms extending outward in the same plane; a stationary electrode for directing a fluid to be treated against said arms of said rotatable electrode at substantially right angles to the plane of rotation thereof; means for rotating said rotatable electrode; and means for establishing an electric field between said electrodes.

4. An electrical treater comprising: a movable electrode having a plurality of interspaced arms; means for moving said electrode; and a plurality of nozzles forming a stationary electrode and adapted to direct fluid to be treated toward said arms, the number of said nozzles being dissimilar to the number of said arms.

5. In an electrical treater, the combination of: an electrode providing a cylindrical surface; nozzle means directed at right angles to said cylindrical surface and impinging thereon a stream of emulsion; and means for establishing a difference of potential'between said electrode and said nozzle to define an electric field therebetwecn which field treats said emulsion.

6. An electrical treater comprising: a tank; a rotatable electrode rotating in said tank and providing a plurality of arms separated by spaces, all of said arms lying in the same plane; nozzle means for directing one or more streams of the fluid to be treated into said tank and in a direction at right angles to the direction of movement of said arms; means for supplying emulsion to said nozzle means under sufficient pressure to impinge said streams against said arms; and means for establishing a difference in potential between said tank and said rotatable electrode. I

7'. An electrical treater comprising: a tank; a rotatable electrode rotating in said tank and providing a plurality of arcuate electrode plates extending parallel to the axis of rotation of said rotatable electrode and positioned at equal radial distances therefrom; a nozzle for directing a stream of fluid to be treated into said tank so as to impinge upon the arcuate surface of that one of said electrode plates closest to said nozzle; and means for establishing a difference in potential between said tank and said rotatable electrode.

8. An electrical treater comprising: an inner electrode formed of a plurality of electrode plates separated by spaces; nozzle means positioned outside of said inner electrode and directed inward toward said inner electrode and impinging one or more streams of emulsion onto the surfaces of said plates; and means including said inner electrode for establishing an electric field to which said emulsion is sub'ected.

9. A combination as de ned in claim 8 in which said nozzle means comprises a plurality of nozzles, the number of nozzles being unequal to the number of said electrode plates, and including means for rotatably mounting said inner electrode.

10. In an electric treater the combination of: a primary electrode having conducting portions separated by spaces; a secondary electrode including a plurality of nozzles directed toward and impinging streams of emulsion onto said conducting portions; means for rotatably mounting one of said electrodes relative to the other whereby said conducting portions and said nozzles move relative to each other, the angular distance between said nozzles being different from the angular distance between said conducting portions; means for establishing a potential difl'erence between said electrodes; and means for delivering emulsion to said nozzles under pressure.

11. An electrical treater, comprising: a pair of electrodes, one of said electrodes providing a convex outer surface; and nozzle means mounted on the other of said electrodes and adapted to impinge a stream of emulsion directly onto the convex surface of said one of said electrodes.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand at Los Angeles, California, this 8th day of November, 1927.

HAROLD C. EDDY. 

